As an injector for a fuel injection device used for an internal combustion engine embedded in a vehicle, JP-A-2007-270822 and JP-A-2008-157058 disclose an injector in which an actuator is fixed to an injector body from a side of a nozzle in order to meet the needs for downsizing a device. In such an injector, one ends of two feeding lead wires are bonded to the actuator in advance. After the lead wires are inserted into a housing opening for the actuator, which is formed in the injector body, the actuator is inserted into the housing opening so that the other ends of the lead wires are taken out from a lead-wire outlet portion provided on the injector body at an opposite side of the nozzle.
In the injector of JP-A-2007-270822, the lead-wire outlet portion is formed on an upper end portion of the injector body at the opposite side of the nozzle, and the housing opening for the actuator extends straight from the side of the nozzle to the lead-wire outlet portion. In order to prevent the lead wires from being bent, a supporting member having rigidity higher than that of the lead wires is arranged on the actuator and the supporting member supports the lead wires.
A shape and a thickness of the supporting member are set so as to prevent the supporting member itself from being bent. The supporting member supports a whole part of the lead wires other than the other ends thereof. Thus, in fixing the actuator to the injector body, the lead wires can be prevented from being bent in the housing opening, and the other ends of the lead wires can be guided to the lead-wire outlet portion.
In the injector of JP-A-2008-157058, the lead-wire outlet portion is formed on a side surface of the injector body, and the housing opening for the actuator is configured such that the housing opening extends straight from the side of the nozzle, is bent at a middle portion thereof, and further extends straight from the middle portion to the lead-wire outlet portion. A guide member is arranged in the housing opening in the area between the middle portion and the lead-wire outlet portion. Further, the supporting member for preventing the lead wires from being bent is fixed to the actuator, and the supporting member is configured to be capable of being elongated and contracted in a longitudinal direction of the lead wires.
In fixing the actuator to the injector body, by supporting the whole part of the lead wires other than the other ends thereof using the supporting member in an elongate state, the lead wires can move along the housing opening without being bent. When the supporting member contacts the guide member, the supporting member is contracted and the lead wires are exposed from the supporting member, and thereby the lead wires are bent while the lead wires move toward the lead-wire outlet portion.
As described above, the supporting member of JP-A-2007-270822 supports the whole part of the lead wires other than the other ends thereof, and the entire supporting member cannot be bent. Thus, the supporting member of JP-A-2007-270822 cannot be applied to the injector of JP-A-2008-157058, in which the housing opening provided in the injector body is not straight but bent at the middle portion.
In contrast, the injector of JP-A-2008-157058, in which the housing opening provided in the injector body is bent at the middle portion thereof, is configured such that in fixing the actuator to the injector body, the lead wires can be easily bent after the lead wires move along the housing opening without being bent. However, the number of components required for the injector may be increased. That is, in order to move only the lead wires toward the lead-wire outlet portion from the middle portion, the guide member is necessary for guiding the lead wires to the lead-wire outlet portion other than the supporting member that is fixed to the actuator. Further, in order that the supporting member is configured to be capable of being elongated and contracted, the supporting member is constructed of multiple components such as a fixed supporting member that is fixed to the actuator, and a movable supporting member that can relatively move with respect to the fixed supporting member. Therefore, the number of components necessary for guiding the lead wires to the lead-wire outlet portion may be increased.